PMP exam - study preparation

Submitted by sunil4kushi on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 04:11

Hi,


I am new to this site, but find it very interesting. Just a month back i started studying for PMP Exam, i have below queries relating, how i should study to pass PMP in first go :


1. Should i memorise all ITTO or only few or relating to only important knowledge area.


2. How many time i should read Rita and PMBok.


3. should i memorise rita process chart.


4. how many question practice i should do.


5. how much i should score in mock test before appearing for PMP exam.


Best Regards,


 


 

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PMP Exam Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learnt.
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saket_pmp

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 05:47

1. In reality around 80% of PMP questions would be from IITO. You find out your own ways to remember and understand it, whether you memorize it, practice it, understand it, play games to learn it etc, its your choice. Find out your own ways.


2. Rita is reference book, I guess 1-2 times is sufficient enough. PMP questions would be framed from PMBOK so keep in mind every line and references from PMBOK are a potential PMP questions. Plan to read and understand PMBOK the maximum you can.


3. Not necessary, as long as you can remember and understand IITO from PMBOK. Anything from Rita is not the base of actual PMP exam.


4. Around 3000 mock question. Make sure you choose right questions that are based on PMBOK 4th edition. There are many old and bad quality PMP questions available across too, even avoid seeing them. The best way to decide which Mock test to choose is see people who passed PMP recently (3-4 months), what all Test they referred.


5. No fix rules, but generally 70-75% or above is good, provided you choose right Mock Test.

khaberz

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 07:25

 I would disagree with point 1, if it is to imply that meomorizing the ITTO would take care of 80% of all questions (maybe you didn't imply that, but one might misunderstand it that way).

Most ITTO-related questions I saw were situational, where memorization would not have given me the answer - Understanding which process you are in comes first and requires understanding the context.

 

Personally, I do not recommend memorizing ITTOs. In most cases, you can figure out he correct answer by understanding where you are in the process groups (made-up example:  there is no Risk Register in Initiation). The few ones, if any, where memorization might help after all do not justify the effort to memoriz those >500 ITTOs, which will not serve you past the exam anyway. 

saket_pmp

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 10:27

Thanks khaberz. I would have disagreed too if I had said that memorize IITO and be ready to face 80% of PMP questions.


I am a PMP instructor and have trained over 600 students so far in 5 years.


End product of reading, understanding, visualizing, practices, relating to practical experiences etc results in memory (it’s an end product). How you memorize, it’s up to the individual and hence I do not comment on any specific technique.


When you memorize you can attempt 30-40 PMP question straight away, but what about remaining 80% of questions? Can memorizing here also help here? The answer is yes, BUT, if you apply common sense and visualizing techniques. The situational 80% of PMP question of 100-200 words each can be narrowed down to 5-8 words if you apply common sense and visualizing techniques (80/20 rule). When you can bring 200 words question to 5-8 words it means it become direct IITO questions again. Now, it’s your day, use your memory to choose the answer.


In short, to pass PMP you need to have smart techniques across everything that includes, understanding, memorizing, visualizing, thinking real life, using practical PM experiences, common sense, learning from practices etc

khaberz

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 11:50

 Thanks for the clarification and if it sounded like I was questioning your credentials, I wasn't. I am not an instructor, just having an opinion based on my own PMP preparations.

At the end, it comes down to what works for the individual - and reading the wealth of opinions and experiences from the people here can help in making one's mind up.

saket_pmp

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:20

Absolutely correct.


There is no fix rule to study and pass PMP and that’s the beauty of PMP exam and hence its value and respect.


I again agree with you, one has to make their own plans as per the individual study habits, read what people as an individual do to pass PMP and make a plan.


Cheers,
Saket, PMP

makarandh

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 06:14

The quantum of preparation is subjected to how much real PM experience one has, but work content is something which unfortunately not in our control. Good news is, if you can imbibe into PMBOK'ism passing the exam is not that difficuilt, as long you take a methodical and disciplined approach. You may like to check my lesson learn blog http://mypmpll.blogspot.in/ for "what to do" and "What not to do" while preparing for PMP.

>1. Should i memorise all ITTO or only few or relating to only important knowledge area.

There is no need to memorize the ITTO, develope your own theme around ITTO and keep it reading back to back for few days, you will start seeing an inter-relationship and understanding level will naturally go high.

>2. How many time i should read Rita and PMBok.

IMO, minimum 2 full reading and you can skimmed through 3rd time to get an extran reinforcement on your conepts and understanding

3. should i memorise rita process chart.

> Not really required, but no harm if you can do it will for good only

>4. how many question practice i should do.

Untill you fill confident

>5. how much i should score in mock test before appearing for PMP exam.

untill the mock exam score goes around 80%

All the best!

 

 

Makarand Hardas, PMP

 

pmtraining2012

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 14:04

Use PMPQ app (www.pmtraining.es/PMPQeng.htm) and when your score be over 80% you will be ready for the exam.

First of all, read Rita.

Good luck

Best regards